hard drive help

[PokerGoblin]

OK

I want to back up my important files and then 'flash' (I think that's the correct term) my hard drive. By that I mean I want to make the computer the way it was when I first pulled it out of the box.

I actually want to erase everything, then 'zero' it out. I believe this is a process of deleting everything, then writing random data over the whole drive, then deleting that and starting fresh, so old data cannot be retrieved.

What is the best way to accomplish this?

PG

[CORed]

You got kiddie porn on that hard drive? Or just regular porn that you don't want your wife or GF to see?

There are "file shredding" programs available (try Google). Ideally, you'd want something that could be run off of a bootable floppy, CD or flash drive, so you could format your hard drive, and then run a shredding program on the hard drive from the bootable media. OTOH, hard drives are fairly cheap, so buying a new hard drive and physically destroying the old one (put it on a railroad track or someting so the platters get broken up) is the best alternative if you have data that you want to make sure is completely gone.

[PokerGoblin]

I thought about just replacing it, but I hate to destroy a perfectly good piece of equipment.

[ QUOTE ]
You got kiddie porn on that hard drive? Or just regular porn that you don't want your wife or GF to see?

[/ QUOTE ]

My computer had contracted cyber-syphilis: Viruses acquired from downloading porn.

The porn itself is of no consequence.

Thanks for the advice.

PG

[CORed]

If it's a virus problem, a simple format and OS reinstall should be adequate. The 1's and 0's from the virus code will still be present, but, if there is no file system pointng to them, there is no way for that code to actually execute.

[IHateKeithSmart]

Yeah, should be no need to zero if it's just virii you're worried about. But, if you really want to nuke it, use dban (http://dban.sourceforge.net/) - Darik's Boot and Nuke. Bootable cd or floppy. Beware though, this takes quite a while on a large drive.

[ QUOTE ]
OK

I want to back up my important files and then 'flash' (I think that's the correct term) my hard drive. By that I mean I want to make the computer the way it was when I first pulled it out of the box.

I actually want to erase everything, then 'zero' it out. I believe this is a process of deleting everything, then writing random data over the whole drive, then deleting that and starting fresh, so old data cannot be retrieved.

What is the best way to accomplish this?

PG

[/ QUOTE ]

Backup all of your critical files to either a second hard drive, or CD.

Once complete, you have a few options...

1, You can utilize the Recovery CD that may or may not have been supplied with your PC, depending on the manufacture

2, You can use a utility as described above to 'clean' your PC.

3, You can reload Windows from scratch, during which time you will have the option to Delete and Re-create your boot partition.


I recommend option 1 if available. If not, I recommend option 2.

Be sure that you have all required software available for reloading following the rebuild process.